Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson

It’s a cattle-freezing winter, not the kind of winter to be rooting through the junkyard looking for body parts. When a severed thumb shows up at the local dump, Sheriff Longmire and crew wrench on their fur hats and shuffle out in granny gear, but events escalate when the first body is found and it starts looking like murder.

Junkyard Dogs is the sixth in the series, though it’s the first one I’ve read. It worked perfectly as a standalone.

As a portrait of old-school policework in rural Wyoming, I found Junkyard Dogs rather lovable. Battle-scarred county sheriff Longmire has winsome lines, Vic Moretti adds hot sauce, and the setting is well-drawn. The dialogue is excellent; often funny. The characters spar, discuss, and react authentically. I imagine that readers of the series quickly become attached to the core characters, and that following their adventures holds real appeal.

“It was that part of the winter that stretched out like a Russian novel...” - p.23

For me, the element which didn’t quite glint wickedly enough were the rogues. With the exception of the man without a thumb, the characters being investigated weren’t as ripe and waspish as the detectives, and so paled when on the page together. Longmire didn’t meet his match here.

That said, all I wanted to do at the end of this book was turn straight to the next one - and that distinctly makes this a two-thumbs-up read.

“I’ve heard of things like illegal entry, breaking and entering, collusion, and inadmissable evidence, but rarely does one get to see all of it at one time in person.” p.131

Many thanks to Sue at the Whistle-Stop Mercantile for the Wyoming book chat and recommending Johnson to me!

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